New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) for allegedly seeking 250 grams of gold coins as a bribe from a Coimbatore-based firm involved in wholesale trade and manufacture of gold ornaments.
The officer, identified as Vikas Pal, is a 2014 batch officer of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) currently posted as Deputy Commissioner in the Meerut zone of the Central GST department. Along with Pal, the CBI has also booked his alleged representative, Mohammed Sabahuddin, who is accused of calling the promoter of the gold jewellery firm thrice, asking him to fulfil Pal’s demand for gold coins.
According to the FIR filed by the CBI, the case was taken up by the agency after the Directorate General of Vigilance found ‘sufficient corroborative evidence’ supporting the bribery allegations made by Coimbatore firm Aalaya Jewel Industry.
The case goes back to the time when Pal was posted as Deputy Commissioner (Customs) in the Madras Export Processing Zone in Chennai, from where Aalaya Jewel Industry imported raw gold for processing and manufacturing jewellery.
In his capacity as Deputy Commissioner at the Export Processing Zone, Pal allegedly asked the company’s founder for 250 grams of gold coins in exchange for unfreezing the company’s bank accounts, frozen earlier as part of a Customs-related investigation.
Following the demand for bribe, the firm’s promoter filed a complaint with the Directorate General of Vigilance in March 2021.
“Shri S. Shreeganth, Director of M/s Aalaya Jewel Industry Pvt Ltd, MEPZ-SEZ Tambaram, Chennai, in his complaint has alleged that Shri Vikas Pal, then Deputy Commissioner, Customs, MEPZ-SEZ, Chennai (currently posted as Deputy Commissioner, Central GST Noida (Appeals), Noida, falling under Meerut Central GST Zone) demanded illegal gratification in form of 250 grams of Gold Coins from him, in lieu of de-freezing of the bank accounts of his company,” states the FIR, seen by ThePrint.
“Directorate General of Vigilance after investigating from vigilance angle in the matter concluded that there are sufficient corroborative evidences to support the allegations,” it says, adding that the department sent the complaint for further action to CBI last October.
The directorate subsequently also forwarded the prior approval of the competent authority under the Prevention of Corruption Act, thereby leading to the registration of the FIR.
According to the CBI FIR, Sabahuddin, who allegedly worked as a conduit for Pal to extract gold coins from the Coimbatore firm, was initially a GST offender and had bribed Pal in the form of flight tickets, besides hotel and cab bookings.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)